Pure
by writergirrrl22
Summary: "It's like when you wouldn't look at me naked in the arena even though I was half dead. You're so…pure." *New rating: MA
1. It's You

I've known Johanna Mason for all of two minutes, and I already hate her. Between her attempt at girl talk and her stripping completely naked in front of me, and not to mention Peeta, I find myself pondering how easy it would be to target her in the arena. I mean, what was she thinking? The girl talk could have been an attempt to bond, to get on my good side so we could team up later on in the arena, but the stripping? Even though mine and Peeta's engagement is purely for the Capitol's sake, being naked in front of my fiancé is not okay! I'm the first to admit I'm not good at making friends, the only real girl friend I've ever had is Madge, but I know that Johanna's actions are not the way girls who want to be friends with each other operate.

And what is Peeta doing, chatting with her the entire elevator ride! When she leaves, I ignore him, but I just know he's grinning. I toss aside his hand as the doors close behind Chaff and Seeder, leaving us alone, and he breaks out laughing.

"What?" I say, turning on him as we step out on our floor.

"It's you, Katniss. Can't you see?" he says.

"What's me?" I say.

"Why they're all acting like this. Finnick with his sugar cubes and Chaff kissing you and that whole thing with Johanna stripping down." He tries to take on a more serious tone, unsuccessfully. "They're playing with you because you're so…you know."

"No, I don't know," I say. And I really have no idea what he's talking about.

"It's like when you wouldn't look at me naked in the arena even though I was half dead. You're so…pure," he says finally.

"I am not!" I say. "I've been practically ripping your clothes off every time there's been a camera for the last year!"

"Yeah, but…I mean, for the Capitol, you're pure," he says, clearly trying to mollify me. "For me, you're perfect. They're just teasing you."

Through my anger, I feel my stomach flutter like it was full of butterflies when he says I'm perfect. That's been happening a lot lately, anytime he says something like that so nonchalantly. Irrationally, it makes me angrier.

"No, they're laughing at me, and so are you!" I say. Better to come off as betrayed than jealous. I think back to earlier when Finnick was so close to my face with his, and I hope Peeta felt at least a fraction of how I feel. Sure, Finnick was only mostly naked, while Johanna bore all to everyone in the elevator. I'm sure he did. Besides, he's the one who's honestly in love here, not me….

"No." Peeta shakes his head, but he's still suppressing a smile.

Soon, we are joined by Effie and Haymitch, and I am momentarily forced to forget my anger with Peeta because of the presence of Darius, the Peacekeeper from 12 who disappeared after trying to save Gale. He has reappeared as an Avox, strategically placed on my floor to unnerve me, I'm sure.

I pay no attention to Peeta at dinner, mostly because I'm too preoccupied with my guilt over Darius. Also, because if I think too hard about what Peeta said, about me being too pure, my anger threatens to bubble back to the surface, mixed with some other feelings I can't quite place, and I'm sure I wouldn't be able to control my actions if they did.

After dinner, we all go in to watch the recap of the opening ceremonies. I wedge myself in between Cinna and Haymitch on the couch because I don't want to be next to Peeta. This awfulness with Darius belongs to me and Gale and maybe even Haymitch, but not Peeta. He might've known Darius to nod hello, but Peeta wasn't Hob the way the rest of us were. Besides, I'm still angry with him for laughing at me along with the other victors, and the last thing I want is his sympathy and comfort. At least that's what I tell myself as I huffily watch the recaps. I can see him shooting me worried glances every few seconds from the other side of the couch, but I pointedly ignore them.

As soon as it's over, I stand up and thank Cinna and Portia for their amazing work and head off to bed. Effie calls a reminder to meet early for breakfast to work out our training strategy.

In my room, Peeta's words are still echoing in my head.

_"You're so…pure."_

What does that even mean? I've killed people, for crying out loud, that is as far from pure as you can get! Yes, sexually, I've never done anything but kiss, but I'm only 17, and to be honest, that's the farthest thing from my mind right now. There are more important things to worry about, like keeping Peeta alive.

Soon after I go to bed, there's a quiet knock on my door, but I ignore it. I don't want Peeta tonight, and I can't understand why he would think that I do. He's not stupid, he knows I'm angry. And I especially don't want him with Darius around. It's almost as bad as if Gale were here. Gale. How am I supposed to let him go with Darius haunting the hallways?

Tongues figure prominently in my nightmare. First I watch frozen and helpless while gloved hands carry out the bloody dissection in Darius's mouth. Then I'm at a party where everyone wears masks and someone with a flicking, wet tongue, who I suppose is Finnick, stalks me, but when he catches me and pulls off his mask, it's President Snow, and his puffy lips are dripping in bloody saliva. Finally I'm back in the arena, my own tongue as dry as sandpaper, while I try to reach a pool of water that recedes every time I'm about to touch it.

When I wake, I stumble to the bathroom and gulp water from the faucet until I can hold no more. I strip off my sweaty clothes and fall back into bed, naked.

There's another knock at the door. It's more frantic than the one from earlier in the night, and I can hear Peeta whispering loudly, "Katniss! Katniss, are you okay?"

He must still wander the halls at night, like he did on the train during our Victory Tour. There's no doubt he would have heard me screaming, and has probably been rapping on the door for at least five minutes. I sigh, my stomach twisting with, what is that, excitement? I resolve to let him into my bed, remember how his warmth and steadiness feels when I'm wrapped in his arms. I'm reaching for clothes when I remember why I shut him out earlier. Not just because of Darius or Gale, but because I'm too pure. That's when I have the idea. Peeta won't know what hit him, then we'll see who he's calling pure!

I run to the door, take a second to catch my breath a try to seem as nonchalant as Johanna was, then I do it. I open the door, stark naked, and look innocently at Peeta.

**A/N: Please review!**


	2. You Know What You Do

**A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews/favorites/follows! I really appreciate it all, and I'm glad you're all enjoying this story! Please continue to review, so that I can know what you like about the story/want to see happen!**

**Also, I should have done this with the last chapter, but, DISCLAIMER: I OWN ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THE HUNGER GAMES BOOKS/CHARACTERS/FRANCHISE. Unfortunately...**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

I had just passed Katniss's door when I heard the screaming. I was checking on her, naturally, but I didn't hear anything so I was walking away to go back to my room and lay in the dark for the remaining hours of the night, assuming she was sleeping peacefully. I myself find I can no longer sleep without Katniss by my side. I had only taken a few steps away from her door when I heard her. I ran back as fast as I could, and started pounding on the door. She didn't answer, so I began to whisper her name.

With every knock I took that she didn't answer, my knocks became more frantic. I wasn't sure what could have happened, why she wasn't answering, but I didn't care. Every second that she wasn't in my arms was a second I was sure she was in danger.

Looking at her now, safe, curious as to why I was banging at her door, and, um, naked, I feel the heat race to my face. I quickly look away, and put one hand behind my head, my eyes searching for any place to be, other than on her body.

"Yes?" She asks, in a way that is so innocent it contradicts her current state of nakedness. It's as if she doesn't even realize that she's missing all of her clothes.

"I, uh, was just…I heard screaming." I still haven't found a place for my eyes to settle. "Nightmare?" I ask her.

"Peeta, you can look at me," she says, but I still don't. Just knowing that she hasn't got any clothes on is making the blood rush down to the place between my legs, and I'm worried that if it starts to grow, it will freak her out. Besides, she's acting like…well, like someone she's not. I don't know why, but I'm one hundred percent positive this has to do with me calling her pure earlier.

"Uh, no, I think I'll just go back to bed." I start to turn away and walk when I hear her say, "Peeta." There's so much pain in her voice that I turn back around and look at her, forgetting that she's naked, and staring deep into her grey eyes. I can see that whatever nightmare she just awoke from was a particularly nasty one. She doesn't even have to say anything before I've got her in my arms. Maybe if I hold her tightly enough, I can make the pain of everything go away.

My head is resting on her shoulder; her face is nuzzled in my neck. And I'm doing everything I can to keep my manhood from growing.

She pulls her head away from my neck and kisses me. I'm extremely aware that this is the first time she's ever kissed me without any cameras around. The feeling of her lips on mine sends my heart into overdrive, as usually happens, but this time it's different. She's kissing me. For real this time, on her own accord. She's also stark ass naked. My thin pajama pants aren't enough to conceal my ever enlarging cock, and she feels it on her bare leg and pulls away.

"What's that?" She asks. Great, now I've done it.

"N-nothing," I stutter, looking away again and taking deep breaths to try and calm myself. I can tell that my face is bright red.

"That's not nothing," she says, and I'm terrified she's about to send me away forever, so I look at her to try and read the emotions that play across her face.

A smile breaks out on it, and she says, in the most amused voice I've ever heard from her, "Peeta Mellark, am I turning you on?"

"No!" I say indignantly, even though she totally, one hundred percent is. Not to say she doesn't usually turn me on, but usually it's easier to hide.

"Your pants beg to differ!" She starts to giggle, and I cover her mouth with my hand, worried she'll wake someone and that they'll see her naked and me with a tent in my pants.

"Shhh!" I say, "Someone will hear you!" I remove my hand, ushering her into her room, and tightly closing the door. I lock it for good measure.

"Peeta, we're engaged, what does it matter?"

"It just does, okay?" I turn to face away from her, partially hiding my embarrassment of the entire situation, and partially to keep my hungry eyes from taking in every detail of her naked flesh. "Just put some clothes on and we'll go to bed."

"No, I'm hot," she says. _Yeah you are_, I think to myself, thankful I turned my back to her. She continues, realizing how what she just said sounded, "I mean it's hot in here. Besides, I find your behavior extremely amusing! Who knew you would react this way? I mean, it's just a little bare flesh, I assumed it didn't matter, considering how much you saw earlier tonight."

I knew it had to do with Johanna. I'm about to insist that she at least put on some underwear when she starts to giggle again.

"What is so funny?" I ask, spinning around to face her again. I have to consciously think about looking into her eyes, and not a little bit south of there. I feel so sleazy even thinking about her in the way that I am.

"I never knew you were so….well endowed." She's giggling again.

I quickly move to cover my crotch with my hands.

"Katniss, come on," I beg, "Just put on some underwear and come to bed."

"No! I'll go to bed, but it's far too hot in here to wear clothes. If I had known you would react this way, I wouldn't have opened the door," she says with a shrug of her shoulders.

She's driving me crazy.

While she's not looking at me, too preoccupied with something near the door of her bathroom, I finally allow myself to take in her naked body. She's no longer as bone skinny as she used to be, what with the whole no longer being starving thing, but her slight frame could still be considered thin. In fact, the extra weight she put on really suits her. I personally wish she would put on a little more, who knows how frequently she'll be able to eat in the arena? Her breasts are small, but full. Her figure gives the slightest hint of curviness. My eyes skim over her perfect ass and then make their way down her long legs.

I lose what little self-control I had, moving towards her, gently pushing her against a wall, making sure my face is as close to hers as possible without actually touching. I place my hands on the wall on either side of her head.

"You knew what would happen," I whisper. My eyes are slightly lidded, I'm breathing hard, and my cock is throbbing so much, I think it might tear through my pants. Her breath catches slightly, and her pupils dilate, maybe from surprise. I continue, "You know what you do to me."

**A/N: Please review!**


	3. Why Are You Doing This?

**A/N: Thank you again for reading this! Please keep reviewing and favoriting and so on!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Hunger Games franchise.**

Peeta is kissing me. I am naked, pushed against a wall, and Peeta is kissing me, no longer trying to hide his erection. I'm so caught up in his kiss, which he has yet to break, with the feeling of his hands, which he has moved from the wall to cradle my face, and the feeling of his cock against my leg that I momentarily forget where I am. I am in pure bliss; any thought of anger at him is thrown out the window. He deepens the kiss, and my mouth opens automatically to let his tongue in. I am just thinking how it won't be so bad being forced to marry Peeta, when a moan escapes my lips. I had started grinding my body against his, and the feeling was something entirely new to me; I never wanted to stop feeling it.

But as soon as the moan reaches Peeta's ears, his eyes fly open, and he pulls himself away from me. Instantaneously, I miss the pressure of his body against mine. I look at him, confused, sad, and a little bit offended. He walks to my bed and sits on the end of it, placing his elbows on his knees and rubbing his hands behind his neck.

He looks up at me with sad eyes, but his gaze never leaves mine. Quietly, he asks me, "Katniss, why are you doing this?"

His question stops me cold in my tracks. Why am I doing this? Better yet, what am I even doing? I thought I was trying to get him back for his "too pure" comments earlier, but it's escalated to something far from that.

Suddenly I'm extremely self-conscious. I cross my arms in front of my chest, and avoid looking at him. I feel tears start to well up in my eyes. I feel rejected and embarrassed, and I can't hide the way my voice breaks from the threat of tears spilling over when I say "I don't know."

"Katniss," he says, his voice full of regret at causing me pain. I yank a thin robe off the back of the bathroom door and quickly cover myself with it, not even bothering to conceal the tears that are falling fast.

"Katniss, please don't cry," he begs. "I'm sorry, for everything."

I finally look at him, and he opens his arms. Reluctantly I join him on the bed, and allow him to encase me in his arms; I will never be able to resist the warmth and steadiness that come with his embrace. We sit like that for what feels like an eternity while I cry. All the while, he's shushing me, moving my hair out of my face, and placing sweet kisses on my forehead, my cheeks, my nose, my lips.

"Peeta," I finally say as my sobs are subdued.

"Shhh," he tells me, "You don't need to say anything."

"But-" I try to say, but he cuts me off.

"This is all my fault," he says. "I should have never laughed at you earlier. You would have never tried to prove yourself, but I had the fleeting feeling that you were jealous of Johanna flirting with me, and I got carried away. I know that your feelings for me aren't the same as mine are for you."

The way he says the last part…it breaks my heart. The truth is, I don't know how I feel about him. We can't be just friends, I know that, but do I like him? Or even love him? The butterflies return to my stomach at that last thought.

"I just got carried away," he repeats, then elaborates, "You have no idea how many times I've dreamed something like this would happen between us… For a few seconds I thought it was real."

"Peeta," I say tentatively, as if I'm not exactly sure of what is about to come out of my own mouth, which, quite frankly, I'm not. "I thought I did all of this just to get back at you for your comments about how I'm just so pure-"

"But Katniss, you didn't have to, I love you just the way you are-"

"Don't interrupt me," I say, and he clamps his mouth shut. I continue, "I didn't know why it bothered me so much. Your comment, that is. But I think know now. The way you said I'm just so pure, it was like you were implying that you aren't. I was already jealous after what happened with Johanna, but after those comments, I couldn't help the feelings of jealousy rising in me over some unknown girl who made you impure. That first time I kissed you in the arena last year, that was the first time I ever kissed anyone. And since then, I've kissed one other person, but all the hundreds of others have belonged to you. I can't help thinking of you kissing other girls back home and I'm…I'm…."

I trail off. What am I? Jealous? Angry? I shake my head, as if that will make the words come to me. I am staring down at my hands in my lap, brow furrowed in concentration. He grabs them and holds them in his own. I look up to meet his eyes and can see the tiniest glimpse of hope there. He doesn't say anything, just waits for me to collect my thoughts.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I don't have to tell Peeta that my feelings for him are confusing, what with him, and Gale…Gale. I remember that I've already let him go, for good. And suddenly, instead of feeling sad, I feel free. Instead of feeling trapped by Peeta's undying love for me, I feel elated! I look at him, a smile on my face, and then I kiss him. I can feel his shock, but it doesn't even last a second, and then he's kissing me back.

While we kiss, I let my mind wander to what my future has in store, and I realize I don't have a future. If all goes as planned, Peeta will be the one walking away from these Games. I let this thought stop me for a second. I see a thousand images flash in front of my mind, the marriage Peeta and I will never have, two small children who look like the perfect mixture of the two of us running around the meadow, growing old together, surrounded by grandchildren and love….and suddenly I'm angry. Angry over the world we live in, angry that all of the things I just saw in my mind's eye can never happen. These images are of another world, one where we aren't pawns of the Capitol, where our children and grandchildren would not be forced to enter the reaping and fight to their deaths; one where I actually want children and the happiness that comes from a family with the person you love…love. I love Peeta. But I can never be with him.

I allow my anger to manifest into sexual frustration. I push him down on the bed, and straddle his hips. I begin to grind myself on his once again hard cock, deepening our kisses and biting his bottom lip. He moans in a way that could be mistaken for a growl, and I feel my breath catch and that feeling in my crotch returns.

His hands are everywhere on me; my face, then they're running down the length of my sides, stopping on first my breasts, then my ass where he gives it a good squeeze with his strong hands. They reach under the thin robe, and the feeling of them on my bare ass causes me to moan uncontrollably. I have never been touched like this before. Suddenly, grinding is not enough to satiate me. I rip my robe off, then reach for his pants.

**A/N: Please don't forget to review!**


	4. This Is Real

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update! I've been visiting family for the holidays and haven't had much time to write! But I hope you like this chapter! I actually invented like three characters, so yay! I literally pulled one out of thin air, the other two are Peeta's older brothers. So technically I didn't invent them, but I did give them names!**

**Please remember to review!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Hunger Games franchise.**

Heaven. That's where I am right now. All of my wildest fantasies are coming true, so obviously this is a dream. It has to be. I haven't had a dream like this since before our games last year, but that would explain Katniss's out of character behavior tonight. It's just another one of my many dreams of Katniss, and though it's been almost a year since I've had one, I'll surely wake up in the morning feeling satisfied and in need of a change of underwear.

Once I've decided this is a dream, I don't hesitate with my hands as I did when I thought I was awake. They're everywhere, her face, her breasts, her ass. I wish she had never put this robe on. I put my hands underneath it to get a good feel on her. She moans, then tears her robe off as quickly as she can, then turns her attention to the bulge in my pants.

She pulls them down and off, and while she's doing that, I'm whipping my shirt off so we're both completely naked. When she finally puts her hands around my cock, she hesitates slightly, as if she's not exactly sure what to do next now that we're both completely exposed. This throws me off, because dream Katniss always knows exactly what to do with my dick. But I'm too immersed in my dream to take too much notice, and instinctively, I push her head down. Her mouth opens in surprise, a small sound of shock coming from it, but it's all too perfect, and her mouth fits around my raging boner before much else can be said.

The moment my dick is in her mouth, I gasp. I've never felt anything like this before. It feels so real, too real. I start to back up before I think too much about what I'm doing. Suddenly there is too much space in between us, and my body misses her body, my cock misses her mouth.

Katniss looks as surprised as ever, which in itself is not that surprising. She's probably in shock over what I just did. In District 12, there's not much sex education in school. Once during school when we were about 10 or 11, the boys and girls were separated so that puberty could be explained to us, but even that was not very useful. I was confused about a girl's menstrual cycle until a little more than year ago when I made a passing comment to Delly Cartwright about how my mother was being even more horrible than usual. She said, nonchalantly, that it must be her time of the month, to which I responded, "Oh, that explains it. I would be cranky if I had to lay an egg once a month, too." Needless to say, the conversation that followed was embarrassing, and way, way too detailed for my liking.

I like to think I know more about sex than the average 17 year old in 12; that is, of the ones of us who have not already experienced it first-hand, and from what I gather from my own friends, there aren't many of us out there who have. It's not really something that we openly discuss, and the only reason I know all that I do is because of my two older brothers, Chorley and Flan. Chorley is 21 and Flan is 19, and growing up, they were both very popular with the girls. Chorley in particular could always be found sneaking off with some girl he had just met. One time when I was 12, I was helping my mother in the kitchen. She sent me out to get some bags of flour from the storage shed out by our pig pen. That's where I walked in to find Chorley and our neighbor, a girl named Maple. Maple was on her knees, facing away from the door to the shed, but Chorley was standing over her with his pants around his ankles. I instantly knew it was something I should not have seen, and the look on my brother's face confirmed that. He yanked his pants up, knocking Maple over in the process, as I yelled "Sorry!" and grabbed the closest bag of flour and ran out.

Later that night, Chorley came to find me. He told me that I couldn't tell a soul about what I saw because it could get him and Maple in a lot of trouble.

"What were you even doing?" I asked. I knew it was something I shouldn't even want to know about, but in the second before he saw me, he looked like he was enjoying himself, so my curiosity won out. Chorley turned bright red at the question, but answered it anyway. "You know what sex is, right?" I nodded. "Well," he explained, "It's similar to that, only there's no chance of a kid coming out of it."

"But the teachers told us the only reason to have sex is to make a child, so why-" He cut me off, and said, "Peeta, you're young. But one day, you're going to realize that making a child is not the only reason to have sex." Then he got up and walked away, and I was forever scarred. And throughout the years, that was not the last time I walked in on Chorley, and less frequently, Flan. After about a year, maybe even less time than that, I got the picture that sex feels great. But again, that is not common knowledge to the children of 12.

Sitting here now, with the tangible space that every fiber of my body is protesting between Katniss and me, I hear myself breathlessly saying, "Oh my god, this is real." I'm struggling to catch my breath, and struggling to stay away from Katniss. I can't believe I just did that.

"What…" Katniss looks at me confused, "What was that?"

"I…I'm sorry! I thought I was dreaming!"

"What? Why would you be dreaming?"

I can feel myself blush as I explain, "This sort of thing usually only happens in my dreams."

She smiles, "You dream about being with me like this?"

If there was any chance she couldn't tell I was blushing, it's gone now. There's no way she can miss the blush that's all over my face.

"I am a man, Katniss. And you're just…so…"

She scoots closer to me on the bed until she's sitting right beside me, our backs resting against the headboard, both of us looking at the wall across from the bed. She leans her head on my shoulder, letting me know that I don't have to continue.

After a few moments of silence, she speaks up.

"We should talk about what has happened," she says quietly. She doesn't sound angry or nervous; she just states it like it's a fact.

I swallow hard, not sure where to start, but eventually I ask her, "What do you want to talk about?"

She doesn't hesitate. "Why did you push my head down?"

I take a deep breath and tell her about the first time I walked in on Chorley, and what he said about sex being for more than just reproduction. She takes it all really well, and I think maybe it's more common knowledge in the Seam than it is in town.

"Did you already know that?" I ask, a little bit shocked.

"Peeta, of course," she says, chuckling a little.

"But they don't teach that in school."

"They don't have to. Why else would Cray pay starving Seam girls for it?"

I hadn't thought about that. I'd forgotten that Katniss came from a different background, one of suffering, where she basically raised herself. Of course the starving people in the Seam wouldn't worry about their children knowing how great sex is when they are too busy worrying about how to feed those children every day.

"I guess it's just not really known in town. We're a little more sheltered than those of you from the Seam."

"That's probably true, but that being said, it's not as if I'm experienced or anything."

"That goes without saying." She looks at me as if she's about to punch me, but my smile stops her and she giggles a little. "But I'm not exactly experienced either."

She looks at me quizzically. "Then how are you so much less pure than I am? You must be experienced."

I was worried she'd ask this question. So I do my best to answer it and avoid it at the same time. "I've only kissed you."

"Yes, so how does that make you less pure than I am?"

"Well…You know how I said I eventually figured out sex was about pleasure sometimes?" She nods, so I continue, "Nobody told me, I experienced it myself."

"You've had sex?" She kind of shouts the question.

I squint my eyes as I try to explain it. "I guess you could say that."

"With who?"

"Myself?" I offer.

She looks like she understands absolutely nothing I'm saying, so I start to explain.

"One day at school when we were 13 or 14, you came to school wearing a dress. I think someone from the Capitol was there that day, visiting or something. Anyway, if you hadn't been with Prim, I wouldn't have noticed you. You hadn't worn a dress to school in so long, it took me off guard. Then at lunch, you were sitting with Marge, and for some reason that day, the older kids were eating with us as well. I remember Gale walking over to where the two of you were sitting. When you noticed, your face kind of lit up. He said something, and you laughed."

"He was making fun of me in a dress," Katniss interrupts.

"Either way," I continue, "I remember thinking how much I wanted you to look at me the way you looked at him…Anyway, when I got home, the image of you laughing, wearing that dress, was burned into my mind. I kept thinking about you all night, so much so that I had to try to hide the erection thinking about it was giving me. When I was alone, well…I stroked it with my hand until…you know…and…after that, it became something I did frequently."

I am bright red. I don't even want to know what she's thinking, but I sneak a look at her anyway. She looks thoughtful, like she's considering everything I've just said.

"I can make that happen with my mouth?" She asks eventually. I nod. That's all the confirmation she needs. She starts kissing me again, then she straddles me, reaching her hand down to touch my erection, hesitantly stroking it at first, then grabbing it with her full hand before her lips leave mine. She puts it in her mouth and it's as if my entire body is made up of tiny fireworks, all exploding at once.

"Katniss, Katniss, wait," I say breathlessly.

She pops her head back up so that her eyes meet mine.

"I love you," I tell her, as if she didn't already know.

"I love you, too," she responds. She tries to duck her head back down, but I stop her. Probably because I'm crazy. "Do you not want me to…" She trails off.

"No, no! I do. But I…I wanna do something for you first."

**A/N: Thanks for reading, review please! :)**


	5. Could You Say That Again?

**A/N: Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Hunger Games franchise.**

Peeta crashes his lips into mine. The kiss is slow and sweet, but of course, if it's up to me, it won't stay that way long.

"Wait, you love me?" Peeta asks suddenly, stopping our kisses.

"Yes," I say breathlessly, my eyes half closed with what I assume is my own desire. I'm not really sure; all these feelings are so new to me. I try to close the space between our lips again, but he pulls away, holding me at arm's length.

"You're serious?" He looks honestly surprised, and I guess I can't blame him. I wasn't even sure of my own feelings until literally five minutes ago. I should have realized a lot sooner, the moment I resolved to save Peeta's life. I guess I knew then that I loved him, but subconsciously.

"Peeta," I say, making sure to look him in the eye. "I have never been more certain of or more serious about anything in my entire life."

The look on Peeta's face…I've never seen him look so happy. His joy spreads to me, and a smile breaks across my face. He pulls me in and holds me tight. We stay there for a few moments, just holding each other, I can hear his breath in my ear and feel it on my neck. He feels so strong and steady, and I know that this is where I want to spend the rest of my life.

He moves so that our foreheads and noses are touching and we are looking each other in the eye with our bodies and arms still intertwined.

"You love me," he says simply, the biggest smile on his face. I laugh and say back, "Yes."

"Yes what?" He asks, still smiling.

"I love you!" I answer.

"I'm sorry, could you say that again? I didn't quite catch that."

I laugh harder, then, as loud as I can, I yell, "I love you, Peeta Mellark!"

"And I love you too, Katniss Everdeen." And with that, he's kissing me again. Soft kisses turn urgent after a very short time. Then he's trailing kisses down my face to my neck. My breath catches, and I can feel the heat between my legs.

"So," I say, breathing hard. I can feel my heart leaping into my throat. "We're going to have sex."

It's not a question, but that's how I meant it to be. I just need confirmation about what we're going to do, then maybe I won't be so nervous.

Peeta stops kissing me, again. I wonder if he's tired of all the interruptions. If so, he doesn't show it or say anything. The only look he has is one of confusion and concern.

"Katniss, I'm not trying to pressure you."

"I know! I'm just…nervous." I admit. He sighs.

"Thank god!" I look at him questioningly. "I'm nervous too."

"Really?" I can't hide the shock in my voice or on my expression.  
"Yes! To be honest, I don't really want to have sex right now."

"Then why did you push my head down earlier? And why did you say you wanted to do something for me? I assumed you meant sex."

Peeta blushes a little, embarrassed by what I said.

"I told you, I never meant to push your head down. It was stupid and impulsive. And completely disrespectful to you. And I said I wanted to do something for you because I do. I want to make you feel good, but I also want to feel close and intimate with you. I want to show you how much I love you, in a way I haven't been able to before. While I'm not ready for sex just yet, I still want to do all those things for you, and…" He stops rambling mid-sentence. He has a look in his eye that I've never seen before. Is it that pesky emotion of desire that I don't quite understand again? I'm not sure. But it's very intense.

He moves to kiss me again, but this time he lays me down on the bed, his body hovering over mine. I don't know what he's planning, but he's kissing me again, so I kiss back. As his kisses begin to travel south, goose bumps rise all over my body and my heart rate picks up again. He kisses my neck, my shoulder, my breasts, my stomach, leaving trails of heat where his lips meet my skin, until he gets all the way down. He pauses, then looks up to look me in the eye. I'm about to ask him what he's going to do when he uses his hands to pry my thighs apart. Suddenly I'm self-conscious. I feel more exposed than I have ever been in my life, especially considering my prep team has completely waxed every last hair from my body.

Before I can force my legs closed, his mouth collides with me. The sensation is so incredible that I reflexively throw my head back and arch my body as I cry out in pleasure.

"Oh my god!" I cry, but Peeta doesn't stop, he continues to lick. I am shuddering and moaning and thrashing around from the intense pleasure; it's as if I have no control of my body. Peeta holds tight to my thighs with his hands. This goes on for several minutes and then the feeling begins to plateau. Not to say it doesn't still feel amazing, but instead of feeling as if I have no control of my limbs, I feel very relaxed. Maybe I'm suddenly used to the feeling of Peeta's mouth on this most sensitive part of my body.

Peeta notices that I've somewhat calmed down, only letting an occasional moan leave my lips, and that is when I feel his finger enter my body.

"Peeta!" I scream as he begins to thrust his finger in and out of me. I can feel his smile. I guess he's been waiting to hear me scream his name, because he stops licking, only momentarily, to kiss the inside of my left thigh and say, "That's my girl," then his mouth goes straight back to where it was before, and I can, again, no longer control my body as I writhe on the bed. Briefly, I wonder how he even knows what he's doing, but I assume he heard it from one or both of his brothers.

After several more minutes filled with moans and full body shudders and the almost strangled sound of Peeta's name coming from my lips, I feel like I can't go on, the pleasure is too intense.

"Oh…" I moan. I can feel the walls of my body tightening around Peeta's finger. "Peeta…stop…"

Luckily, he doesn't listen, he just shakes his head no in between my legs, never losing contact. I feel tension building. Peeta's mouth and finger impossibly move faster and faster. I'm yelling his name, probably too loudly, but I don't stop and he doesn't stop me.

Suddenly the tension that has been building inside of me explodes. The pleasure I feel is something that I couldn't describe even if I tried. I'm laying limp, panting like I'd just been running for 20 minutes. Peeta more or less collapses on top of me.

"Holy shit," I say when I can finally speak. Peeta looks up at me, he still hasn't moved from where he collapsed, and smiles at me. I can't control the smile on my face. "Was that…?"

"Yeah," he says, finally moving to lie next to me, wrapping his arms around my sweat-drenched body. "I actually can't believe that was as easy to do as it was, it's supposedly a lot more difficult," he says, chuckling. I want to question him, but I don't have it in me.

"Peeta," I say, but I can't think of what to say, my brain almost feels like mush. I want to tell him that now it's his turn, but I'm so tired, I can't form the words.

"Shh," he says as he wraps the blanket around us. He pulls me as close as possible, then kisses my forehead.

"I love you," I say as I begin to drift off to sleep.

"I know," he replies, kissing my forehead again. "I love you, too, Katniss…You have no idea…"

And with that, we both drift off to a world that is not filled with nightmares, for once.

**A/N: Thanks for reading, review please! :)**


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